It's All James Potter's Fault
by Radiogirl12
Summary: When Lacey and Melody take a walk in a forest, like nearly every day, they never expect to take a wrong turn and find themselves in the company of Marauders. A Remus/reader story. (I'm posting this for a friend, but review like normal and she'll see it and reply)


"Oh shut up." I say, nudging my friend. She narrowly avoids smacking into a tree, and veers back onto the rocky back road just in time.

"Look, all I'm saying is he totally likes you." Melody replies.

I roll my eyes, but smile. It's awful, but it feels nice to be liked, even if for the wrong reasons, even if I don't feel the same. "Well, what about you and hoodie-guy?"

Mel gives me an innocent look. "What do you mean?"

I think she may not actually know. "He sends you weird glances all class period, what do you think?"

We sound like such teenage girls, but who can blame us, really? One, we are teenage girls, and two, our third friend, Alex, has four guys pining after her for sophomore homecoming. She's more outgoing than us, talks more, smiles more, laughs more, and she's so pretty. Most days, Mel and I wouldn't even mention boys, but today we feel the need to be flattered and desired.

"Oh but Lacey, what about Tod?"

"Eh, he's more your type. He isn't-"

"Smart enough?" She finishes for me. "Really Lace, he is a highschooler. What do you want, a headboy?" I laugh at her use of Harry Potter slang.

"I will accept nothing less!" I say, mock high-and-mighty. "You want a rebel." I wink at her and she blushes.

"Maaaaybe." We laugh because it's true. "But only the fictional kind." She smiles.

"Only the fictional kind." I echo. "Why are fake guys so much better?" I ask. We never find an answer. We pass her cousin's house, as she lives close to most of her family in a back-woods part of Mississippi. The woods aren't so dense in this part of the trail, but soon it becomes darker and shade crosses our path in a distinct line.

There's a rustle to our left. Mel looks at the woods surrounding us; I follow her gaze, and nothing is there. But something feels off none the less.

"Mel? I don't remember this part of the woods." Her dog clings close to us. That's funny, he usually runs around all the time.

"Maybe we haven't been this way in a while?" She suggests. But that's only trying to make us feel better: We walk this exact trail all the time.

Her dog, Jake, suddenly darts ahead, barking loudly. We stop, look at each other, then take off after him. He turns at a familiar part.

"Mel! That looks like the way to Gary's house! Hurry up!" We run faster, encouraged by the prospect of her uncles house and getting back to the main path. Although, she's a bit shorter, so I have to slow down at her behest.

Jake rounds the corner, and we loose sight of him. Suddenly, the forest turns near black. Owls hoot, and I hear a yowl in the distance.

"Lacey...?" Mel sounds scared. I give her a reassuring smile, but I'm worried as well. What is going on?

We round the bend, and the new path looks like the woods Belle's dad chose at the start of Beauty and the Beast, but darker. I hear a strange noise, like something being hit sharply with a soaking sack of cloth.

I turn as I speak. "Maybe we should just go back..." But when I look in the direction we came, it is the exact same.

"Jake!?" Melody calls just behind me. "I can't see him." Her voice edges on hysteria.

A small flash of light. I turn towards it, full night now, and see a lamppost. A lamppost? What's something like that doing here? I hear a growl, and yelp, flipping around. Nothing is behind me but empty trail. Mel and I huddle closer, back to back.

"Lacey where are we?" She whispers.

"I don't know."

Her hand jerks down, surprising me, but she's only tapping her pockets. "Shit, I left my phone on my bed."

A light bulb goes off, and I reach for my own pocket. Sure enough, a long flat lump is there. I pull out my phone with a fist pump of joy, and Mel sighs, relieved.

"Call my mom, she can come find us with GPS. Wait why do you look like that?" Her honey eyes go wide.

"No signal." I wince, shutting my grey ones. I open messenger anyway, and see that I have just a tiny tiny sliver of connection. Not enough to do much.

"Mel?" I have to face our fear.

"Yeah?"

"...I don't think we're near your house anymore. I don't even think we're in the same time period."

Her eyes say she was scared of that as well. Jake never would have disappeared on us...unless something prevented it from coming back. Which I really don't want to think about.

I begin a message to Alex.

" _Alex, I don't have much time. I'm with Mel, and I think we are in trouble. We were walking outside her place in the woods and something changed. We aren't...there, anymore, I guess is the way to put it. I know, I'm not sure this makes sense myself. I don't know what's going on or when we'll be back. Tell everyone we love them, and if we somehow don't make it back...have good lives. Don't miss us too much, haha. Have fun at the party_

 _Love always"_

I hit send, and by some miracle, the message makes it through before I have no connection at all. I show it to Mel, and I can't read her expression to know for sure, but I'd guess she's feeling as hopeless as I am right now.

Then, we both freeze. Theres a louder howl in the distance, and a strange chattering that sounds like bones clacking together. Then another damp noise, closer, followed by several more. There's a crashing noise through the dense foliage off the beaten path, headed toward us, and I try to drag her out of the way when I snap out of it. But before I can, three figures pop out of nowhere and knock her off her feet. I somehow dodge them. We're too terrified to scream. Then the three lean up, get untangled amidst a chorus of 'owww' and 'fuck it that was my _leg_ ', and rise. It's...three boys?

Sure enough, the three brush dust off, and one helps Melody up when he notices her. "Oh, dreadfully sorry about that love, didn't see you there." He smiles, and Mel melts at his dark grey eyes and black hair. Another asks her if she is hurt, but she's too shocked to speak. This one has square glasses and messier black locks, like he had just come from a wind tunnel.

"Uh, guys? Aren't you forgetting something?" The third says, elbowing his friends. He has brown hair, with grey stripes, and a very attractive face. His shirt is way too big, but he doesn't seem the kind to care.

"Oh, right then." Glasses agrees, glancing nervously back the way they had come. He turns and notices me. "Uh would you two mind running?"

"...Why, exactly?" I ask.

"It's far better than the alternative, trust me." The brunette adds, and as I to prove his point, the zap-squish is incredibly near by.

The trio whip around to the woods, and draw sticks from their pockets, brandishing them like weapons in a fluid motion, and step in front of Mel and I protectively.

Grey-eyes nudges her with his back foot without looking behind him. "Go, go now, run!" His voice rises until he is nearly yelling, and we take a step finally but stop when a massive black spider jumps through the trees into the clearing.

Mel screams, but I shove her just in time to avoid a second freak of nature pouncing on us from the other side.

Brown hair swears loudly, and a bright light explodes from their wands. They move together, fighting the creatures back though the spiders are easily six feet tall. The first one hisses, jumping around and trying to get past their volley, and the other one tries to sneak behind them, where we cower. I can't help it, I want to cling to one of the boy's shoulders, but I stop myself in case it would throw them off.

Glasses is smirking, and he trades a look with a devious looking grey-eyes and a determined brunette. They all shout words that seem so familiar, but I can't place them, too busy watching the second spiders fangs get dangerously close to grey-eyes. The two beasts freeze, though, and the three spin to us.

"Go go go go go go!" Glasses shoves Mel lightly, and brunette pulls me along by my wrist.

"Woah wait, what were those?! And who are you?" I call.

Brunette turns to me, smiling a shy smile, a gleam to his eyes. "We're the Marauders."

Grey eyes glances at Mel. "You're in good hands."

Mel and I share a look. Oh GOD. This isn't real, no way. These can't be.

"Are you...are you three James, Sirius, and Remus?"

James, glasses, almost trips in our mad dash through trees and briars. My legs feel like they are leaking blood, but I can't exactly stop. Unless I want to be spider food.

Sirius looks back quizzically. "Now, how did you know that?"

"Guess we have fans, Padfoot." James replies.

"No, something is off. Crap, duck ginger!"

I duck on reflex at Remus' command, and narrowly avoid a low-hanging branch.

He continues."They don't have Hogwarts uniforms, and they know who we are. They aren't dressed right for Hogsmead either, which is the only thing for miles. Something is very wrong here."

Sirius is about to speak when Mel trips, and he has to catch her. Good thing he did, because he ducked just a hair to do so, and a pile of sticky web flies over his head and splatters on the closest tree. She screams, and it combusts. The trio trade looks, but are distracted by Mel shouting : "Shit they're catching up to us!"

"James this is all your fault!" Remus chastises, sounding considerably less scared than I thought he should.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know the shield wouldn't hold when we set their cave on fire?" James shrugs.

My jaw pops open. Oh for fucks sake. Then Remus is pulling me again, and we all stumble at break-neck speed through the nearly pitch black wood. I think it may be the Forbidden Forest.

Then, we see a gate. Our energy is renewed, and we dash for it, but a slop of something very gooey hits my foot, and I fall hard on my stomach when Remus tries to pull me forward.

"Lacey!" Mel shouts.

"Take her on, James!" Sirius shouts, sliding next to Remus, who is kneeling by my legs. My ankle, maybe my foot, feels broken now, and pulling on the web hurts like hell, and I scream when he tries.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck" he mutters under his breath, and I twist to see behind me. A spider breaks through onto the path, tackling Sirius.

"Padfoot!" Remus screams. He slashes his wand in their direction, muttering words that make me shiver, and the spider catches on fire. It thrashes, running into trees, legs shriveling. Sirius clambers up, shaking his head and rubbing his bum.

"Keep them off of us, Padfoot!" Remus calls. Sirius nods, taking up a defensive stance toward the next attacker. Remus points his wand at the web holding me still, muttering things that don't seem to be working. Tears nearly prick my eyes. If anything happens to them I can't...come on, think Lace, think!

I realize I'm wearing boots over my skinny jeans, and try to turn to get at the laces on my shoe, only to cry out in pain and slam a fist against the forest floor.

"Remus! The shoe!" I shout at him over the sound of Sirius fighting the acromantulas. We lock eyes and he understands instantly, hands twisting at an odd angle to get at my boot laces. As soon as they're done, he tells me this will hurt, and pulls my leg sharply. I scream, but my foot slides free. Remus turns around, picking me up onto his back, hands under my knees.

"Sirius!" He calls, turning to his friend. Sirius looks toward us, only to be hit by a web and pinned to a tree. James is suddenly running past, to Sirius's aid, and Remus jogs toward the gate. As soon as we pass it, he sets me down (a little too quickly, it hurt, but I understand) next to Mel. Then he dashes back into the forest.

"Lace are you alright?!" She cries, examining me. I wave off her concern, claiming I'm fine. I'm so worried I don't care about my own injury. We wait in tense silence, then a cat runs into the forest too. We see a flash of light, hear acromantula shrieking, then silence. Soon, a lady in a tall flowing robe exits the forest, followed by our three saviors. Sirius is limping, and I hear Mel gasp. A spider limb edges behind them, about to strike, and I cry "Look out!" thrusting my finger at it. The leg is shredded before any of the wizards could turn. I look down at my hand. What was that?

Mel rushes over to help James support Sirius. Remus wanders back to me, looking so tired I stop him when he reaches for me.

"I can walk." My voice wavers with the intensity of all that happened. I get to my feet slowly, my good one first, and try to limp on the other. I gasp loudly, falling in a pile at his feet.

He tuts at me. "Come on, don't refuse help you need." I slump, but when he turns his back to me and puts his hands out, I maneuver my arms around his neck, and he stands, hands under my knees again. We set off toward the hulking figure of Hogwarts in silence, the teacher leading our way. Gates clang ominously behind our group, and I flinch. I don't want to go back in there for a long long time.

The witch who saved us, we found out later, was McGonagall. She led us through enough hallways that I fell asleep on Remus.

I don't wake until I'm slid onto a chair in what I soon realize is the headmasters office. I straighten my hair, brushing the leaves from my wrap-around French braid, pulling at the hems of my jeans until I notice the blood leaking from the cuts all over my legs. Well that was pointless. We must look so beaten up. Mel's black hair has a small bush in it, and her face has a couple scratches. Now that I think about it, my glasses have a few scratches too. I pull them off and sigh.

James notices and pries them gently from my fingers. "Allow me." He says, too chipper for this situation, and mutters a spell that clears them right up. He scoots them on, hitting my ears, and I laugh and wrinkle my nose at him.

McGonagall clears her throat. "Now, who might you be?"

"Awe, Professor M, have you forgotten about your favorite troublemakers so quickly?" Sirius says, mock hurt, hand over his heart. Mel chuckles behind her hand.

The witch shoots him a glare. "Mr. Black, I am clearly referring to the two girls whom you nearly killed this evening with your shenanigans."

This shuts him up.

"I am Lacey Pevensie."

"Melody Winchester."

"I see. And what, exactly, are two untrained witches doing in the Forbidden Forest?"

I blink at her. "Pardon?"

"Why have you two receive no training? You don't even have wands!" She says.

I glance to Mel. Then, realizing I will have to tell our story, I inhale before launching in. "I... Well, we aren't from here. We aren't even from this time period. This is hard to explain, but we come from the future, I suppose? A time where this world is...books."

Three of four magical beings the room laugh, but the Professor looks very serious. "I knew someday this would happen." She says worriedly. Shit. If McGonagall is worried, I have a feeling I should be pertrified.

The Marauders stop laughing. "You aren't serious." James says.

Remus groans. "James, you know the faulty spell you used earlier? The one we found and thought it didn't work?"

Sirius facepalms, and James casts around for an excuse, only to gulp deeply under McGonagall's stare.

"What is this, Mr. Potter?" She asks. Before he can answer, the door pops open, and a tall graying wizard in a ridiculous hat waltzes in. "Good evening, all."

"Dumbledore, we have a problem." McGonagall starts. I can't hear what she says after, all l can hear is a ringing, and suddenly I can't get enough air, then my vision turns to greyscale. I see someone rush toward me, and the world tilts.

I'm gone.


End file.
